Huskies rout DePaul, advance to Big East semis

By JOHN NASHHour Staff Writer

Published
6:45 pm EDT, Sunday, March 10, 2013

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HARTFORD -- The Breanna Stewart Show, which took the University of Connecticut campus by storm early in the season, returned to the XL Center on Sunday night in the BIG EAST women's basketball quarterfinals.

The 6-foot-4 freshman forward scored 21 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead the second-seeded Huskies to a 94-61 victory over seventh-seeded DePaul in front of a crowd of 11,000.

It was Stewart's first 20-point game since she hit for exactly that many against Syracuse on Jan. 19. Her 9-for-12 effort from the floor was also the second time in 11 games, dating back to Jan. 29, that she shot better than 50 percent in a game.

"I had an inkling that Stewie would play better today than she has in a while because she practiced better than she has in a while," said UConn head coach Geno Auriemma. "I saw (Sunday) some of the things I saw on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. That carried over into today and that's a good sign."

Stewart was far from alone in carrying the Huskies, who improved to 28-3 on the season and advanced to a Monday night semifinal matchup against Syracuse.

Junior center Stefanie Dolson and sophomore forward Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis both tossed in 16 points while Bria Hartley and freshman Moriah Jefferson, making her first career start, both scored 12 points.

"I'll say the same thing I said to our team after the game: We played a really good basketball game," said Auriemma. "The game was well-played by a lot of our players, individually and as a team. I'm really happy with what we did and I'm looking forward to (Monday)."

Stewart prefaced her big game by coming up with two big shots during an early run, which helped the Huskies take early control of the game.

Leading 14-11 during the sixth minute of the game, Stewart drained a 3-pointer from the side of the key to kick-start a 16-3 run.

Senior Kelly Faris followed Stewart's initial trey with an offensive rebound, Mosqueda-Lewis drained a 3-point shot, and Kiah Stokes sank a foul shot to build the advantage to 23-11.

Stewart then got the ball at the top of the key, head faked her opponent into the air and drove to the hoop for two more points and a 25-11 edge.

After DePaul's Megan Podkowa answered with a 3-point shot -- the lone basket during the UConn run -- Mosqueda-Lewis swished another 3-pointer and Dolson scored from the low post to make it 30-14 with less than 12 to play in the first half.

"It was really important to get off to a good start and we wanted to make sure we did," said Mosqueda-Lewis. "DePaul is a really good team, well-coached, and this is the time when upsets can happen."

A 16-point edge still wasn't enough for the Huskies, who put together spurts of 9-0, 10-2, and 12-0 in building a 71-32 edge midway through the second half.

The biggest run DePaul could manage up to that point was a trio of 4-0 runs, which basically meant scoring back-to-back buckets.

Inside or outside, and regardless of its lineup, though, UConn was clicking on all cylinders.

"We had a bit of advantage against DePaul in the lane," said Auriemma. "They're much more of a perimeter team, so I thought Stefanie could have a good game and we looked to get her established early."

Dolson (9 rebounds) scored the first six points of the game for UConn and, after hitting for two midway through the first half, finished off the first 20 minutes with six straight again, giving her 14 in the first half.

The Huskies also hit six 3-point shots, though, providing balance to the offensive effort.

"That's when you know you've played well, when you get that kind of balance," said Auriemma. "Sometimes, you just don't get it, but today I thought we just played and when the shots were there we took them."

It made for an impossible match-up situation for the Blue Demons.

"They're UConn," said DePaul's Anna Martin. "That's the reason why they're one of the best. They're just hard to guard and every position is so talented and they move the ball well and they're great in transition, too."

DePaul's best stretch of the game came midway through the second half when the Blue Demons hit four 3-point shots, cutting UConn's 39-point lead to 25 with a 16-2 run.

"One time I said, 'I'm glad we're up 30-something because if I leave you out there for another seven minutes, it's going to be tied,'" Auriemma quipped.

Megan Rogowski, who put up a goose egg in the first half, netted all 15 of her points in the second half to lead DePaul. Jasmine Penny added 12 points while Podkowa finished with 10.

"I thought our players did a much more competitive job tonight than we did a couple of weeks ago at Storrs," said DePaul head coach Doug Bruno, whose team fell to the Huskies, 91-44.

Sunday's quarterfinal was UConn's first game since last Monday's triple overtime loss at Notre Dame. Stewart was a non-factor in that contest, going 1-for-7 from the floor and finishing with five points.

Now, she's just hoping on building upon her quarterfinal performance to help the Huskies in her first postseason with the team.

"I think I just need to keep coming out and playing with confidence, and really just looking to shoot when I'm open," said Stewart, who is averaging 12.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game this season, but whose late-season swoon likely lost the BIG EAST Freshman of the Year Award to Notre Dame's Jewell Loyd (11.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg). "Really, I'm just hoping to do anything I can to help the team."

Games like Sunday's win over DePaul are a good first step back, said her teammates.

"I thought she did a really good job of not second-guessing herself," said Dolson. "She was being aggressive, cutting to the basket, and doing a really good job and not standing still. I was definitely happy to see the way she played."

The Huskies also cut back on their turnovers.

After 35 miscues against Notre Dame, UConn had two in the first half against DePaul and just eight for the game.